“Oh Canada, our home and native land…” I don’t want to be a wet blanket on the Canada Day festivities but as I think of the history of this country, the Confederation we are marking, I can’t help thinking about the people whose backs we are standing on. Here is an article written by Susana Deranger that explains far better than I can, the blood shed by her ancestors at the hands of ours!

I recently wrote an article citing the cruelties that were perpetrated on the Natives of this country during colonization. I was reminded by a writing instructor that I was not telling the truth; that it would be prudent to mention that the Natives themselves were not entirely passive toward each other and inter-tribal wars existed here before the coming of the white man. I suppose, to explain that it is just human nature to conquer and kill, I could go all the way back to the garden of Eden and cite the story of Cain and Abel. My parents lost family members during WWII at the hands of the oppressors we call Nazis. I have to wonder why that suffering is recognized as valid and the Native losses are not. It is in the telling of our history that we are supposed to evolve our “human nature” into a more enlightened race of human being.

Happy Canada Day? For whom?

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Beggars and soldiers were all that remained the day Mother Earth gave back.She raised up her mighty ocean in a tsunamic slap,to clean the parasites that encrusted her skin.She cried from the heavens with lightning and hail, and flooded Her suffering skin,in an effort to heal the filthy mess her children left her in.A warning to all who won’t heed Nature’s signs or heed Mother Earth’s discipline.What we ignore now is only a tap, compared to what Mother Earth will bring.

I wanted to include some words of wisdom with my poem. The following are various quotes that inspired me regarding the state of the earth today, and the state the earth will be in if we don’t start the healing process.

” Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.”Chief Seattle

“The time will soon be here when my grandchild will long for the cry of a loon, the flash of a salmon, the whisper of spruce needles, or the screech of an eagle. But he will not make friends with any of these creatures and when his heart aches with longing he will curse me. Have I done all to keep the air fresh? Have I cared enough about the water? Have I left the eagle to soar in freedom? Have I done everything I could to earn my grandchild’s fondness?” Chief Dan George

“When we Indians kill meat, we eat it all up. When we dig roots, we make little holes. When we build houses, we make little holes. When we burn grass for grasshoppers, we don’t ruin things. We shake down acorns and pine nuts. We don’t chop down the trees. We only use dead wood. But the white people plow up the ground, pull down the trees, kill everything. … the White people pay no attention. …How can the spirit of the earth like the White man? Everywhere the White man has touched it, it is sore.” Unknown Wintu Woman, 19th Century